All About Inventions and Discoveries
The Romance of modern scientific and mechanical Achievements

The Westinghouse Brake 121 earliest possible moment he lodged the necessary preliminary document, or caveat, with the United States Patent Office to protect his idea. That was in 1867. Shortly afterwards young Westinghouse moved from Schenectady to Pittsburg. Here he met Mr. Ralph Baggaley, to whom he explained his invention. He succeeded in enlisting the sympathy of the latter to such good purpose that Mr. Baggaley undertook to defray the cost of building a full-sized and com- plete installation wherewith to demonstrate the possibilities of the brake to railway officials. The utilisation of compressed air in this connection proved a decided novelty, and Westinghouse scored a dis- tinct success over any likely contemporary workers by lodging his full patent. But the construction of the demonstration ap- paratus proved a tedious task. It could not be fitted to a train straight away, because thereby it would be impossible to point out and to explain the in- dividual features and details of the system. The braking method had to be built upon a full-sized scale, and had to be laid out to a sufficient length, as if it were intended for a complete train. It com- prised a pump which drove the necessary air into a main reservoir or tank, and under pressure to actuate the brake fitted to the locomotive wheels. This was connected up to an array of cylinders corresponding to those which would be placed beneath the following carriages. The installation was completed to the smallest detail, and so many months were occupied in the work that the year 1868 was well advanced before it was ready for official inspection.